Safety ladder assemblies



.Jan. 16, 1968 J. RIMI SAFETY LADDER ASSEMBLIES 2 Sheets-Slieet 1 Filed March 30, 1966 INVENTOR. JAMES AP/M/ Jan. 16,

Filed March 30, 1966 I 1968 J. RIM! SAFETY LADDER ASSEMBLIES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ill]! FIGS .LmEs P/M/ INVENTOR.

A Trap/m9! United States Patent C) 3,363,722 SAFETY LADDER ASSEMBLIES James Rimi, 1458 E. Fork Road, Bayshore, N.Y. 11706 Filed Mar. 30, 1966, Ser. N0. 538,661 Claims. (Cl. 182-89) ABSTRACT OF THE DISELOSURE The collapsible safety ladder comprises an upper ladder section, an intermediate ladder section, and a lower ladder section. The sections are hinged together. The upper end of the upper ladder seciton is hinged to a building wall below the window sill of the second story window. These sections are enclosed in a two part casing. One casing part may be opened up to allow the ladder to be extended. If the ladder is extended, it is moved to inclined position relative to the wall so that the lower end of the lower section engages the ground. The ladder sections are coextensive.

This invention relates to safety ladder assemblies. It is particularly directed to collapsible ladders for second stories of buildings.

An object of this invention is to provide a safety ladder of the character described which may be suspended in collapsed condition, at the outside of a building, below a window sill on the second story, housed in a casing, and which may be easily and quickly manipulated to open the casing and extend the ladder downwardly so that people can get out of the window and down the ladder to safety, in case of fire or other emergency.

further object of this invention is to provide a ladder of the character described having improved means for swinging a section of the ladder outwardly away from the outside of the building as it is dropped down or extended.

Yet a further object of this invention is to provide an improved ladder of the character described having means to hold the extended ladder sections in rigid aligned positions with the lower end of the ladder contacting the ground.

Another object of this invention is to provide a safety ladder of the character described which shall be easy to collapse and enclose in its casing, after the ladder has been used.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a strong and durable safety ladder of the character described which shall be relatively inexpensive to manufacture, easy to manipulate, and which shall yet be practical and efiicient to a high degree in use.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts, which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter described, and of which the scope of invention will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown an illustrative embodiment of this invention,

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a safety ladder assembly mounted on a building (shown in cross section), and showing the ladder in extended position of use in full lines, and in partially collapsed position, in dash lines;

FIG. 2 is a vertical side view of the building (in cross section) and the ladder in collapsed position, with parts of the casing broken away and in cross-section;

FIG. 3 is a vertical front view of the collapsed ladder with parts of the casing broken away;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged detailed side elevational view of one of the hinges for sections of the ladder;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 5--5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-sectional line 66 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken on line 7-7 of FIG. 1.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, 10 designates a building on which is mounted a safety ladder assembly 11 embodying the invention.

Building 10 may be of usual construction and comprises a vertical outer wall 12. Said building 10 is comprised generally of inner sheet rock panels 13, 14 a ceiling panel 15, second story flooring 16, beams 17 between the ceiling and flooring, vertical studs 18, 19, horizontal framing members 20, sheathing 21 and outer siding 22. The building also comprises a window sill 25 for a second story window 26, and rough framing sill 27 for the sill 25.

The safety ladder assembly 11 comprises a bracket 30 (FIGS. 1, 2 and 7) comprising a back plate 31 fixed in any well known manner to the siding 22, sheathing 21 and framing 27. The bracket 30 is located just below the window sill 25 at the outside of building wall 12 and is preferably centered with the window 26. Extending from back plate 31 are apertured cars 32 carrying pivot bolts 33 to which a safety ladder 35 is attached. Ladder 35 comprises an upper section 36, an intermediate or middle section 37 and a lower section 38.

The upper section 36 comprises side bars 39. The upper ends of side bars 39 are apertured to receive the pivot bolts 33. Said bars are interconnected by rungs 4t equally view taken on spaced apart. The ladder 35 may be made of aluminum or any other suitable material. Attached to the lower ends of bars 39 are hinge plates 41 provided with ears d2 having apertures 43. The axis of apertures 43 is at the crossing of front edges 44 of plates 41 and lower edges 45 thereof.

The intermediate ladder section 37, comprises side bars 53 interconnected by rungs 51. Bars are coplanar with side 39 of section 36. At the upper ends of side bars 50 (FIG. 1) are hinge plates 52 hinged to plates 41. Hinge plate 52 have front edges 53 in alignment with edges 44 of plates 41, and upper edges 54 adapted to contact lower edges 45 of plates 41. Plates 53 have ears 55 offset from the ears 42 and rotatably engaging same. Ears 35 have openings 56 registering with openings 43 in ears 42. Bolts 57 pass through openings 43, 56 in ears 42, 55 to interpivot one end of the upper ladder section 36 to the adjacent end of intermediate ladder section 37.

The lowermost section 38 (FIG. 1) comprises side bars 60 in the plane of side bars 50, 39. Side bars 6d are interconnected by rungs 61. Hinge plates 62 fixed to the lower ends of side bars 50 (FIG. 1) are hinged to hinge plates 63 fixed to side bars 60. Hinge plates 62, 63 are similar to hinge plates 41, 52.

It will now be understood that when the ladder is collapsed, top ladder section 36 depends from hinge bolts 33, intermediate ladder section 37 extends up from the lower ends of the top ladder section, and the lowermost ladder section 38, extends down from the upper end of said intermediate ladder section. In the collapsed condition of the ladder, said ladder sections are coextensive, and the rungs 40, 51, 61 are all spaced apart equal distances.

When the ladder is extended downwardly to the position shown in full lines in FIG. 1, the lower ends 65 of the lowermost section 38 contact the ground G and the ladder is inclined downwardly and outwardly of the building wall. The sections are of proper length to allow the lower end of the lowest section to reach the ground with the ladder at a good angle for using the same.

Means is provided to aid the uppermost section 36 to swing away from the building wall as the ladder unfolds and to aid in retaining the ladder in collapsed and in extended conditions. To this end there is fixed to the outside of the building wall a bracket 70 having outwardly extending apertured. ears 71, each carrying a pair of transverse axles 72. On said axles are pairs of grooved rollers 73, for the purpose hereinafter explained.

Pivoted to side bars 39 of the upper ladder section 36 as at 75 are separator bars 76. Fixed to the pivoted ends of bars 76 are rings 77, each contacting a pair of grooved rollers 73. When the ladder is in collapsed condition, the pivot 75 is close to and disposed between the levels of rollers 73, and the ring 77 projects outwardly of section 36.

Pivoted to the middle of each bar 59 of the intermediate section 37 is a swivel bar 78. Swivel bars 73 are pivoted at their mid-portions, as at 79, to said bars 50. One end of each swivel bar 78 is pivoted as at 84 to one end of a separator bar 75. Pivoted to the other end of each swivel bar 78, as at 81, is a separator bar 82. The outer end of each separator bar 82 is pivoted, as at 83, to a bar 60 of the lower section 38. The separator bars 76, 82 are of equal length.

Coil tensions springs 86 connect pivots 80 with separator bars 32 at point 86a. Coil tension springs 87 connect pivots 31 with separator bars 76 at point 87a. These springs keep the ladder collapsed.

Vlhen the ladder is in collapsed condition, separator bars 76 are inclined upwardly and away from the building wall, swivel bars 78 are vertical and separator bars 82. are inclined upwardly and away from the building wall. As the ladder drops, the rings 77 rotate but remain in rolling contact with the pairs of grooved rollers 73. In the extended position of the ladder, rings 77 are interposed between said rollers 73 and ladder section 36. As the rings rotate they swing the lower end of the section 3-6 away from the building wall. At the same time, bars 76, 75%, 82 move from the position of FIG. 2, through the dash line position of FIG. 1, to the full line position of FIG. 1. Rings 77 also aid in keeping the ladder sections in aligned, extended position.

A means is provided to enclose the ladder when it is in collapsed condition. To this end there is provided a casing 90. Said casing 99 comprises a casing section 91 hinged to a casing section 92. Casing section 91 comprises a back wall 93 fixed to the outside of the building wall in any suitable manner and extending from above bracket 31 to below the lower end of the upper ladder section 36. Extending from the sides of back wall 93 are parallel vertical side walls 94 having downwardly and outwardly inclined edges 95. At the lower end of back wall 93 is a bottom wall 96 extending to the lower ends of edges d5. At the forward end of lower wall 96 is a hinge 97 to which the lower casing section 92 is hinged.

Said lower casing section comprises a wall 98 which is as long and as wide as wall 93 and is coplanar therewith when the casing is opened up, as in FIG. 1; and is parallel thereto when the casing is closed as in FIG. 2. Extending from one end of wall 98 is a wall 99 attached to the hinge 97. Walls 96 and 99 are of equal width. Extending from the sides of wall 98 are side walls 100, having inclined edges 101 which are inclined downwardly away from the building wall when the casing is open as in FIG. 1, and which contact edges 95 of side walls 94 when the casing is closed, as in FIG. 2. At the lower end of the opened up lower casing section 92 is a Wall 103 to close the top of the casing when the casing is closed. Any suitable, easily opened spring clasp or clip 165 may be provided to keep the casing closed when the ladder is collapsed. It will be noted that when the ladder is in collapsed condition, all the ladder sections are enclosed by the casing.

To drop the ladder, a person in the second story may open Window 26, release the spring latch 105, push out the casing section 97 so that it swings down, then pushes out on the hinged together upper ends of ladder sections 37, 38 and the ladder will drop and extend and move into alignment with the lower ends 65 of the lower ladder section on the ground. The person can then move out of the window and descend the ladder to safety quickly.

It will thus be seen that there is provided an apparatus in which the several objects of this invention are achieved, and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limited sense.

While ring 77 is shown and described as being fixed to bars 76, it will be understood that said rings may be integrally formed with said bars. Thus each bar and its ring may be made of one continuous piece of metal.

I claim:

1. In combination, a collapsible safety ladder comprising, in the extended condition of the ladder, an upper ladder section, an intermediate ladder section pivotally connected at its upper end to the lower end of the upper ladder section, and a lower ladder section pivotally connected at its upper end to the lower end of said intermediate section, said intermediate ladder section in the collapsed condition of said ladder extending up from the lower end of said upper ladder section, said lower ladder section extening down from the up-ende-d end of the intermediate section, and said sections in said collapsed condition of the ladder, being substantially of the same length and coextensive, and means to pivotally connect the upper end of the upper ladder section to the outside of a building wall below a window sill of a second story window of said building Wall at a point a distance above the ground level of said building wall, of substantially less length than the length of the ladder so that the lower end of the extended ladder reaches and is supported at the ground level when said ladder is extended, an said ladder is in inclined position relative to the wall and the sections thereof are in ali nment, the pivotal connection between the upper section and said wall being at the level of the pivotal connection of the upended intermedi ate section to said lower section, in the collapsed position of said ladder, and the pivotal connection of said upper section to the upended intermediate section being at the level of the lower end of said lower section, in said collapsed position of said ladder, and a two part casing comprising a first casing part attached to said building wall and comprising a back wall, side Walls and a bottom wall, and a second casing part complementary to said first section comprising a bottom wall hinged to the bottom wall of the first casing part, and side walls having edge contact with the side walls of the first casing part and a top wall, and said casing, in the closed condition of the casing, enclosing said collapsed ladder, and said second casing part being swingable down about its hinge to said first casing part, to permit the collapsed ladder to be extended downwardly.

2. The combination of claim 1', and spring means to aid in collapsing said sections from extended condition.

3. The combination of claim 1, and means to swing the upper ladder section outwardly as said ladder is extended from collapsed condition and to hold the upper, intermediate and lower ladder sections in alignment when the ladder is fully extended.

4. In combination, a collapsible safety ladder comprising, in the extended condition of the ladder, an upper ladder section, an intermediate ladder section pivotally connected at its upper end to the lower end of the upper ladder section, and a lower ladder section pivotally connected at its upper end to the lower end of said intermediate section, said intermediate ladder section in the collapsed condition of said ladder extending up from the lower end of said upper ladder section, said lower ladder section extending down from the up-ended end of the intermediate section, and said sections in said collapsed condition of the ladder, being substantially coextensive, and means to pivotally connect the upper end of the upper ladder section to the outside of a building wall below a window sill of a second story Window of said building wall, a swivel bar pivoted at its middle to the middle of said intermediate section, and separator bars pivoted to said upper and lower ladder sections, respectively, and to the outer ends of said swivel bar.

5. The combination of claim 4, and a ring fixed to the separator bar which is pivoted to said upper ladder sec- 6 tion, and roller means on said building Wall engageable with said rings.

References Cited UNETED STATES PATENTS 428,635 5/1890 Sample 18295 93 7,710 10/ 1909 Mowrey 182-95 988,593 4/1911 Poss 182-95 3,051,261 8/1962 Webb 182-78 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,194,654 5/1959 France.

REINALDO P. MACHADO, Primary Examiner. 

